Key Battle: Jakobsen v Isaias

The men holding the respective armbands on Saturday night will go head to head in the middle of the park and the battle between Michael Jakobsen and Isaias may prove to be key in a tight encounter.

Jakobsen’s move to midfield has been a seamless transition for the former Danish international, playing alongside Osama Malik in the number ‘six’ position. The defensive-minded player has seen him play a role similar to that of Isaias and the numbers between the two players in the opening three rounds are frighteningly similar.

In the same number of minutes played, both players have made the same number of passes (90) at the same accuracy (62%) with Jakobsen having a slight edge over his counterpart with passing accuracy in the forward half.

The duo have also won the same amount of fouls however Isaias had become notorious for his ‘professional fouls’, committing 3 fouls and picking up just as many yellow cards in the opening fixtures.

It’s in defence the two’s personal style comes out in the numbers. Jakobsen has won six tackles at a 75% success rate while his counterpart has won two at 33%.

Isaias has almost double the interceptions as Jakobsen (14 vs 8) and the Spaniard’s role as a sole defensive midfielder has a lot to do with the difference.

With both sides bolstering the defensive side of their games, Jakobsen and Isaias will play a major role with the supply and distribution in both attack and defence.

City face Adelaide at Coopers Stadium on Saturday night, kick-off 7.50pm. See the match on Fox Sports 501 and free-to-air on Ten's ONE HD.